Folk singer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Folk singers are humorists, clowns, solo entertainers , imitators, etc. in the field of folk music . Many well-known comedians started out as folk singers like Karl Valentin , Max Grießer and Peter Steiner . In the Bavarian-speaking area they often appear as writers and interpreters of Gstanzln and Schnaderhüpfeln . In the Rhenish area they correspond to the Krätzchensänger .

Folk singers have a lot in common with songwriters , as they mostly design their performances themselves and present them live. Profound criticism of events at the time is also part of their appearances. They differ from songwriters mainly through their folklore and humorous presentation.

history

In 1791 Friedrich Schiller used the term “folk singer” rather disparagingly in a criticism of the popular writer Gottfried August Bürger . Only in the course of the 19th century did it increase in value.

In contrast to the older “harpists”, who were less valued solo entertainers, the “folk singers” were an attempt to turn the underprivileged into figures of identification for their audience. Folk singers and folk singer stages are a side effect of urbanization around the middle of the 19th century. The term “people” could refer either to folk content or simply to the artists' popularity .

When the Music Halls (German: Singspielhallen ) invaded the German-speaking cities via London and Paris after 1850 , people liked to combine this modern form of entertainment with staged folklorism . Vienna , at that time still the largest German-speaking city, played a leading role in this. Johann Baptist Moser had his folk singers perform there in tails instead of in fool's costume and cleaned up the repertoire to make it socially acceptable. He was replaced by Johann Fürst , who was already a modern entrepreneur in the entertainment business. Edmund Guschelbauer went down in history as the most important Viennese folk singer . Folk singing in Vienna also produced some female representatives, such as the Fiakermilli . Women were not allowed to appear in public until 1871. The Viennese folk song is closely related to the genre of the Viennese song . Felix Salten portrayed it in his folk play Der Gemeine (premiered 1901).

At the end of the century, Munich , Berlin and Hamburg were added, which in the meantime had also become urban centers. The Singspielhallen were the "folk" venues for a mixed entertainment program, while the variety theaters resembled more the world of the circus .

The emergence of large cities with their increasing anonymity created the need for something original and down-to-earth. In a second paradoxical step, this urban fashion then had its effect on the countryside. The modern "folk" was evidently experienced there as a liberation from restrictive traditions.

By 1900 the folk singer stages were widespread. There were many Jewish folk singers like the Wolf brothers . Folk singing was pushed back with the flourishing of cinemas after the First World War and the advent of entertainment broadcasting from around the mid-1920s.

List of famous folk singers

The fact that folk singers stand for a “ nation ”, as indicated below, and embody their togetherness, is not an undisputed idea of ​​the later 19th century. In the course of the “bourgeoisisation” of the population, it was also of importance in countries outside of Central Europe.

Old Bavaria

Francs

Hesse

Austria

The folk singer culture was most pronounced in Vienna, which is why most of the Austrian folk singers came from there:

Switzerland

Saxony

Prussia

Rhineland

Northern Germany, "Waterkant"

More nations

See also

literature

  • Josef Koller: The Viennese folk singing in old and new times . Gerlach & Wiedling, Vienna 1931.
  • Wolfgang Kaschuba: Popular culture between feudal and bourgeois society. On the history of a concept and its social reality . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-593-33898-X .
  • Elisabeth Th. Fritz, Helmut Kretschmer (Ed.): Vienna. Music history. Part 1: Folk music and Viennese song . LIT, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-8258-8659-X .
  • Ernst Weber: folk singer. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7001-3067-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Das Wienerlied . ( Memento of the original of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Wiener Volksliedwerk @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wvlw.at
  2. ↑ On the threat posed by technical means of entertainment see: Xaver Huber, 1st chairman of the local association, wrote on August 2, 1930 to Mayor Dr. Karl Scharnagl : “The local association of Munich folk singers consists of 115 members who are humorists, comedians, singers and who offer real old, pure humor in their family presentations. Unfortunately, our existence has been badly affected by the progress of technology, such as radio and cinema, but thanks to the kind help of our honorary HV members, such as Mr. Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt, as well as Weiß Ferdl and the press, we always stay with the Munich audience fond memories. ”Around 1930 there were still around 20 venues for folk singers in Munich volkssaengerei.de